Chapter Nineteen
Digivolution Upgrade
"Wha… what are these things?" Jessie asked, taking hold of the card in front of her.
"They're Blue cards. They're used for Ultimate digivolution," said Mikara. "That's what… what Mr. Matsuki told me…"
Lina raised her eyebrow. "When?"
"…Just now."
Riki took his Blue card in one hand and his D-Force in the other hand. "Okay, so… what do we do? I mean… how do we use these?"
"Slash it."
"Huh?"
Mikara took her own Blue card and ran it through the groove in her digivice. The card glowed, and as she disconnected the two items, a line of silver-white light followed the card. "Digi Modify!" she yelled. "Matrix digivolution… activate!"
From Mikara's D-Force, an electronic voice stated solemnly: "Matrix digivolution."
Renokomon hissed as she glowed a brilliant white. "Renokomon Matrix digivolve to… Nabikimon!"
The other Tamers followed Mikara's lead, and their Digimon soon glowed as well.
"Chagremon Matrix digivolve to… Rukliemon!"
"Stingmon Matrix digivolve to… DinoBeemon!"
"Gargomon Matrix digivolve to… Rapidmon!"
"Kelaramon Matrix digivolve to… Canidimon!"
"Venumon Matrix digivolve to… Botanimon!"
"Woodmon Matrix digivolve to… Cherrymon!"
"Dragymon Matrix digivolve to… Drakomon!"
"Angemon Matrix digivolve to… MagnaAngemon!"
"Garurumon Matrix digivolve to… WereGarurumon!"
Daiki and Josh slapped high-fives. "WE RULE!" they screamed in unison. "WE HAVE ULTIMATES!!!"
"Do you really think Ultimates will stop us?" said a thundering voice. The Tamers and their Digimon looked up to see Satanmon and VileDevimon, still standing in their booth. Satanmon had spoken. "Do you really think you'll defeat us, after what we did to your Digimon?"
MagnaAngemon glared at the Mega-level Digimon. "The power of light is always stronger than that of darkness."
VileDevimon hissed sharply. "We'll sssee about that! Come forth, Devidramon!"
About two dozen Devidramon rose from behind the crumbling stands, their eyes glowing fiery red. For a moment, there was silence among the two armies. During that short amount of time, David put a hand on his sister's shoulder. "Remember, this is war. Only one side will win." They looked at each other. "We can do this, little sister."
Lina then grinned. "Of course we can." She turned back to face the enemy. She stood with her back straight, her head held high, her shoulders square, and a fiery light in her eyes. "Go."
Canidimon spread her translucent silver wings and roared. She pushed against the ground and charged, her heavy footfalls shaking the arena. The other Digimon were right behind her, running or flying at the enemy.
Then all hell broke loose.
While chunks of stone and rock tumbled to the sand, the Tamers ran from the battlefield towards the safety of one of the gates. An earth-shattering quake, however, caused them to trip and fall. David looked up to see that it was DinoBeemon that had fallen.
"No!" he yelled. "DinoBeemon!" He ran to his Digimon and put a hand on his partner's huge bruised arm, fruitlessly trying to wake him. "DinoBeemon!"
Lina grabbed her brother's arm. "David, we gotta get out of here before we're squashed!"
"But DinoBeemon—"
The huge Insectoid Digimon struggled to his feet. "I'm fine, David. Go!"
The siblings ran after their friends, who were gathered at the closest gate. The door, however, had been blocked by a column.
"Goddammit!" Riley roared, pounding furiously on the column.
"Can we make it to the other side?" Josh wondered.
"It's too far," said Riku. "If we tried, we'd end up flat as a pancake."
"Goddammit!" Riley said again.
There was another earth-shattering quake as Botanimon floored a Devidramon with her Nature Ring. The Devidramon screeched, then disappeared into the sky.
"We need to do something," retorted Riki.
"Hey guys! Up here!" The Tamers looked up to see that Jessie had scaled one of the huge chunks of stone. "If we climb this," she continued, "we can reach the stands and head up to the top. From there, we'll not only get a great view of the battle, but we can most likely climb down on the exterior scaffolding."
Lina nodded and started climbing. "Good idea."
The Tamers climbed up the rocks, eventually reaching the bleachers. They turned around to see the progress of the battle.
And they were winning.
Canidimon charred the last Devidramon to the ground with her Crystal Hope attack. She and the others then turned to face the two Megas. "You're next!" she growled.
VileDevimon held out a clawed hand at Canidimon. "You asssked for it. Sssinissster Ssserpent!" From his hand, a black mist solidified into a snakelike shape with glowing red eyes. It reared up, hissed, and charged at the winged dinosaur.
"Crystal Hope!"
Fire and mist collided in midair, but the fire won and tore through the heat of the sun towards VileDevimon. The two Megas fled from their booth, which caught flame and burned to the ground. Satanmon landed heavily on his boots in the sand, and VileDevimon stayed in the air.
"Split up and attack them simultaneously!" WereGarurumon roared, charging the airborne Mega. "Wolf Claw!"
VileDevimon suddenly grabbed WereGarurumon's fist, turned, and flung the Ultimate-level Digimon over his shoulder. WereGarurumon was on his feet again at once. He snarled but did nothing until an arrow from Botanimon's crossbow tore through one of VileDevimon's wings. The Mega hissed sharply and turned, only to have an arrow pierce his forehead and skull. VileDevimon tumbled to the arena floor, where Nabikimon, WereGarurumon, Drakomon, and MagnaAngemon tore him to pieces before he was destroyed.
Meanwhile, the other five were having a more difficult time with Satanmon. The large Minotaur was faster than he looked, and he was dodging Rapidmon's missiles and Canidimon's flame pillars with ease.
"Damn!" Rukliemon snarled as Satanmon dodged his cannon blasts. "Not even my Double Cannons can hit him!"
"Try hitting him with everything you've got," Cherrymon suggested. "Pit Pelter!"
"Double Cannons!"
"Rapid Fire!"
"Crystal Hope!"
"Hell Masquerade!"
Satanmon held out his hand. "Shield of Darkness!" A black-purple glow spread from his hand to form a circular shield in front of him. The attacks bounced off harmlessly and vaporized.
"Goddammit!" roared Rukliemon.
"Calm down, brother wolf," said WereGarurumon suddenly. "We can beat 'im."
"'Brother wolf'? Getting deep, WereGarurumon?"
The other wolflike Digimon just grinned. But his grin soon faded as he turned to Satanmon. All ten Ultimates now faced a single Mega.
Canidimon spread her wings. "Ready? Crystal Hope!"
"Jump Attack!"
"Wolf Claw!"
"Hell Masquerade!"
"Rapid Fire!"
"Pit Pelter!"
"Dramon Charge!"
"Nature Ring!"
"Double Cannons!"
Nabikimon turned to MagnaAngemon. "Quick! Use your Gate of Destiny!"
MagnaAngemon flew behind Satanmon and called forth a portal to another realm. "Gate of Destiny!" He flew out of the way as the massive golden doors opened, and a vacuum started to pull on everything. Satanmon fruitlessly tried to fight off the vacuum, but he had nothing to hold on to.
Except one.
Satanmon reached out with his arm and grabbed MagnaAngemon's leg. As the demon started to enter his eternal prison, he pulled the angel with him.
"MagnaAngemon!" Josh screamed from the stands.
A golden staff akin to Angemon's appeared in the Ultimate-level Digimon's hand, and he stuck it between the closing doors of the portal. Angemon kicked Satanmon in the face three times before he was freed. The Angel-type Digimon pulled himself free and yanked the rod from the doors, which closed. The portal then vanished, and all was silent.
Unbeknownst to all, in the dark depths of the stands' shadows, a being slowly rose from a crouching position… and left.
* * *
The castle was made of old stone, and no one would've guessed the evil that resided within its walls. In the main chamber—the throne room, if you will—a single Digimon dropped to one knee in front of a being concealed in the shadows that dominated half the room.
"Satanmon and VileDevimon have been defeated, Mistress."
From the darkness, a voice said, "That's no major loss. They were only pawns, anyway."
"Yes, Mistress." The Digimon looked up. "What is it you want of me?"
There was a pause. "Show those children our true power. Do you remember that village? Well, I want it in ruins before the children reach it. And I want you to lead the army. Bring your best burners—those you have personally trained. And make sure you threaten that old one. He will surely tell the children."
"What if they chose to fight us next, Mistress?"
"Let them come in…but send them a message from me. Put it in a hologram. You know what to say. Present the message yourself when they arrive, but conceal yourself in darkness. We don't want those children knowing who you are before they even prove themselves."
"They defeated Satanmon and VileDevimon," the Digimon said pointedly.
"So? They cannot defeat you, my dear, dear friend." Though the Digimon could not see it, he could feel the demonic grin on his Mistress' face. "They will prove themselves if they reach this castle. Now, go."
The Digimon stood, saluted, and left the room.
Foolish children, the Mistress thought. Foolish, foolish children.